Representative Umali not surprised by PSBank exec’s revelation on Banal’s visit

MANILA, Philippines—Oriental Mindoro Representative Reynaldo Umali on Thursday said he was not surprised when an executive of the Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) told the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, that Quezon City Representative Jorge Banal had visited her with queries about the photocopied document allegedly pertaining to Chief Justice Renato Corona’s bank accounts.

Umali told reporters in an interview that he did not know Banal’s name would crop up in the trial because Banal had not told them of a certain visit to PSBank Katipunan branch manager Annabelle Tiongson. “This can happen [but] we did not talk about anything like it.”
To his knowledge, Umali said he only knew of his copy of the document and said the one Tiongson said was shown to her by Banal would definitely be a different copy.

Despite the development, Umali said he still stood by his statement he was handed the document by a ‘small lady’ “because that is the truth.”

He also deemed inconclusive the closed circuit television footage which did not show a “small lady” handing him the document, saying that some areas in the Senate were not covered by cameras. He described the event of acquiring the document as “so insignificant,” adding it could have been “anywhere when I arrived until I left, if I distinctly recall, anywhere in the Senate upon my arrival until I boarded my car.”

The prosecutor also said he showed his copy to lead prosecutor Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr. after comparing it to a deed of sale he had. Upon comparing the two documents’ versions of the chief magistrate’s signatures, Umali said he “then realized the importance of such document so I passed it on.”

He however begged off further questions on the issue, saying he wanted to know more about the alleged visit.